How an executive who was paid to do nothing lost out on a $2m payout

Antoine Zenone did not qualify for a staff-buyout programme since he had already accepted an expat position in Singapore

Mr Zenone was hoping to benefit from a staff-buyout programme that Lafarge had undertaken as part of its merger with Holcim. EPA

An executive who was paid about $18,000 a month by LafargeHolcim to do nothing failed in his suit to force the cement maker to fire him with a payout worth more than $2 million (Dh7.3m). Timing was his undoing.

When his employer Lafarge announced in 2015 a staff-buyout programme as part of its merger with Holcim, Antoine Zenone hoped he could get a golden handshake. But the company told him he wasn't eligible and French judges have said "non" - three times in a row.

The Paris appeals court ruled that Mr Zenone couldn’t benefit from the plan because he’d already agreed to an expatriate position in Singapore. That suspended his French employment contract and excluded him from buyout offers made to Lafarge’s domestic staff.

Mr Zenone was seeking about €2.1 million ($2.3m/Dh8.6m) and until recently had been paid €16,195 gross a month by Lafarge without having to provide any work, according to last week’s ruling.

The world's two largest cement makers combined in 2015 to cut costs and boost value as demand for building materials eroded. But LafargeHolcim shares slid in subsequent years on a loss of investor confidence and a scandal over operations in war-torn Syria.

When Mr Zenone came back from his posting as chief executive of Lafarge’s branch in Singapore two years ago, Lafarge offered him a project manager position but he didn’t take the role. He states on his LinkedIn profile that he started a new job at a plastic pipe maker last month.

LafargeHolcim said in a statement it doesn’t comment on personnel matters. Mr Zenone didn’t respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

As part of the tie-up, Lafarge told staff representatives in May 2015 that about 380 jobs would be cut throughout the world, in part through a voluntary programme.

Just two days earlier, he had written an email cited in the court case that he agreed to take the Singapore position. “I look forward to starting,” he said.

Had he replied two days later, Mr Zenone might have been considered for a buyout.

Mr Zenone later complained that he was misled into taking the Singapore expat job and asked to get back on a French contract.

He told Lafarge in mid-2016 that he had only agreed to the posting because he believed it meant eventually becoming country chief executive for both cement makers’ operations in the South-East Asian state.

That argument, which didn’t move LafargeHolcim, also failed to convince the Paris appeals court.

“He can’t claim that his job was made impossible given that he continued to occupy his post for almost three years,” the judges ruled. The court added that there was no evidence that Lafarge was responsible for the failure to complete the merger of the two companies’ operations in Singapore.